


I don't want your pity, I just want somebody near me

by orphan_account



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst, Childhood Friends, F/F, First Love, Friends to Lovers, Pining, Unrequited Love, idk where this falls timeline wise, it's so late and i'm delirious, oops my hand slipped, or so she thinks, pre boiling rock after they invade ba sing se
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-15 00:35:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28929639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: mai takes a moment to dwell on her feelings for ty lee after all they've been through.
Relationships: Mai/Ty Lee (Avatar)
Kudos: 9





	I don't want your pity, I just want somebody near me

**Author's Note:**

> i was half asleep writing this, also very sad so i can't be held accountable for errors. it's like shitty poetry combined with teen angst, but it would mean a lot if you read through it anyway. also chapter two of the cryptid au is coming this was just a one-shot in the time i need to finish that chapter.

with all of the chaos in her life, mai had to come to terms with her feelings. those hellish feelings. and she had to cope with them by herself. it's not like she could talk to ty lee, they were about her. mai was not the best at feelings in and of themselves, let alone romantic ones. after all, it would be foolish to run into matters of love this quickly and recklessly. especially for her, someone who had been seen as so cold and so unfeeling for so long. who knew first love could be so exhausting.  
she and ty lee had been friends for so long. she was the only person mai really talked to much these days. if she told her how she really felt it could ruin that. even if ty lee smiled at her a little more lately, or held her a little close than you hold a friend, it's not like ty lee would like her back anyway. ty lee was so pretty and funny and could put a smile on anyone's face just by walking into a room. mai was well, just plain old mai. how could someone like that love her?  
the sinking feeling of loneliness was a burden to bear. she knew deep down she wasn't alone, she had good friends who loved her, but this was a different kind of loneliness. the kind you only feel late at night when all you want is for them to look back at you the same way you look at them, like you were all the stars in the sky. but mai would never admit it. she had appearances to keep up, dignity to preserve. being overtaken by emotions like this would only lead to the downfall of that dignity. that didn't stop her from wishing, hoping, that someday she would have the courage to tell ty lee just how much she meant to her. until then, she sat on her bed thinking about the time they spent together, when they were little and ty lee jokingly said they were going to get married when they got older, mai being thrilled to see her again after so long when azula brought ty lee with her, all those times mai had been so close to just telling ty lee how she felt but every one of those times she backed down at the last minute, she really didn't want to be responsible for ruining a friendship that had lasted for years on account of her own feelings.  
there she was, the hardened girl who had been through so much, tears welling up in her eyes for the first time in so long. over something as stupid as fanciful thoughts about someone she'd known for so long. she just wanted one good kiss, one that really showed just how in love she was, how whenever they were together mai was at her happiest, how fatally and ridiculously in love she was.  
it was painful, the ache in her chest whenever ty lee laughed at something she had said or smiled at her from across the room, but sometimes you endure those things for the sake of someone you love. someone you want to spend the rest of your life with, someone you'd go outside at night with just to see the way the stars looked in their eyes, someone you'd go out dancing with even though you're a terrible dancer only to see the way their face lights up when you do. maybe in some other life they were together, hand in hand, side by side, enamored by each others presence.


End file.
